Floor unit



Feb. 16, 1954 F. L. TAPHOUREAU FLOOR UNIT Filed March l,- 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. 1

Feb. 16, 1954 F. L. TAPHOUREAU 2,668,991

FLOOR UNIT Filed March 1, 1949 s Sheets-Sheet 2 L L. .E!

1954 F. L. TAPHOUREAU 2,668,991

FLOOR UNIT Filed March 1, 1949 I 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. 5

FIGA Patented Feb. 16, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT :ELOOR UNIT EemandLon'Iaphom-eau, Cannes, France Application March 1, '1949,'='Serial N0. l-8,97/2 Claims priority,- applicationFnanceMay 11,, 1948 IClaim. (misfit- 759 fl ..My.invention relatesrto keying strips for floorings, and more particularly to .improvementsin said keying strips for. enabling prefabricated .ilooringpanels tov be easily and quickly united'toget-her.

It is .well knowntoeffect the laying of lioo-rings by means of framing strips having co operating Wedges provided withgrooves and lugs respectively, maid framing. strips being nailed on wall-plates or other suitable supporting members.

. It is further known, however, that in the build- ..ing art a maximum saving .of labour and mate- .rial, .and consequently the use of prefabricated units for wooden floors, is of great interest under the present conditions, such prefabricated units -.being formed in. the shop and assembled in the yardby thesimplest means, preferably without g-nail-ing or gluing orQuSing anyspeciaI fixing -.or seal-ing device or arrangement.

I I have previously designed; true machined Qfiooring panels essentially comprising an under sformnr-base made of a light and insulating ma- ...terialso agglomerated. as to present a predeter- -mine.d .thickness,. and an upper woodenia'cing,

rsaidrrupper f-acingrandfsaid under. form being.

united togetherby .means ,of an insulating and ,adhesive layer. vSaid flooring panels manufacturedin the shop were ready forassemblingior laying on, .plane surfacesas conventional pave- .ments. was ,notquite satisfactory,.since it was'efiected by zmeanssof lugspoeoperating with grooves, said .grooves andlugs being 'formedin opposite edges of r the .fiags or panels respectively, and since in use. saidlugs have proven to be fragile.

uniting arrangement for prefabricated flag units. Another object of my invention .is to provide an "improved keying strip for uniting prefabricated flags or panels together.

runner obj'ect of my invention isrto: provide a flooring adapted to be placed as a whole on a plane area'to be covered, by successively uniting theaabove-mentioned elements together. "Yetranother objectrof my invention comprises .naumethed of laying a wood-endearing made ,of zrthe aboveementioned prefabricated elements. 11A keying strip according tomy inveritionhas azlerigthiamounting to twice the length of-theassociated flag or panel, plus its own constant width. Such a keyingistripxis; imitedwith a flag through longitudinal grooves provided .on both longitudi- Fedg'es of the keying,.,strip,.and cooperating with laterally proj'ectingalugsnformed in". theledges an.thepr a ri ated.llagor panel. ontheiother The fixation of such elements, however.

35 An object of'my inventionisto provide a new .2 hand, a vpluralityplf keying strips may be united p ether by means of projecting lugs matchedon .the end edge of said strips. to engage thelongitudinal grooves in perpendicularly arranged keying strips.

According to another feature of my invention, I provide a prefabricated flooring element comprising in combination a Square flag orpaneland four "laterally surrounding keying strips adapted to be assembled with similar adjacent elements in course of a laying p ocess.

In an improved embodiment of an unsonorous flooring according to my invention, a panel of flag comprises .anumber of .different'elements united together, namely: a wooden frame of generally squareshape having. placed therein a filling of an insulating material glued thereto, preferably 'b 'means of bitumen; anunder layer constituting an under facing and formed of :a sheet of cork or other suitable insulatingmaterialglued to the under, face of the frame and of'the insulating filling, by a convenient binding material such as .bitumen; and an upper facing formed of thin wooden strips .of commercial thickness, which are matched and grooved and are united together in theusuai way, and are further glued to the :upper faceofithe frame and of said insulatingfilling. Thev wholev assembly is then machinedalong its lateral faces forobtention of a lmale profile extendingalong .the four lateral edges thereof.

Inthis embodiment, the keying strips, if. desired, are provided with an under facing or layer made of an insulating material, glued on the under face of said keying strips, said facing having such a height thatthe width of the com- ;pleted keying strips is made equal "to that of the flags. or panels which .are to be united therewith.

"The 'method of laying a flooring made of the above-mentioned prefabricated elements consists in uniting. together, when effecting the laying, said prefabricated elements comprised of square "flags or panels surrounded "along, their four lateral edges with related keying strips having. a length amounting .to twice that of said flag, edges,

plus the constant width of said keying strips .above-m entionjed.'v 'InVorder. that the pla of the wood be compensated for, the flooring strips in adjacent panels will be directed at right angles fromeac'hother.

1- "My invention will be best understood ,from

the'.following" description of preferred embodi- 3 ments thereof, taken in conjunction with the anne ed drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is an exploded view showing a prefabricated element according to my invention, comprising a square panel or flag associated with four keying strips; 1

Fig. 2 is a plane view of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a longitudin l sectional View taken along line IIIIII of Fig. 2; and

Figs. 4 and 5 are plane views showing the manner in which the various elements of a wooden flooring are to be united.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the keying strip l of my invention is longitudinally grooved at 2 and 2, and matched at both ends to present point thereof. Whenever a wooden flooring element is so disposed as to abut against a wall or partition of the room to be floored, said element is merely cut with the convenient angle, as shown at the right of Fig. 4.

When laying a wooden flooring in using my improved prefabricated elements, one starts from an edge of the room to be floored and the panels provided with their attached keying strips l are successively united together according to the alphabetic order or the reference letters of the various elements in Fig. 4.

In Fig. 5, I have shown how it may be procee ded for laying a wooden flooring according to projecting end lugs 3 for engaging the related grooves of two similar, perpendicularly arranged keying strips on which said ends abut.

In the embodiment illustrated, the flooring flag or panel is an unsonorous flag essentially comprising a supporting frame i, made of deal or another similar soft wood; the sides of the supporting frame d have an equal predetermined length; a filling 5 made of cork, wooden scraps, fibre or the like is introduced within said supporting frame t and is attached to the inner edges thereof as by gluing. Under the supporting frame 4 a sheet or plate 6 is applied by means of an adhesive binding, preferably bitumen. The sheet or plate 5 is made of cork or another convenient insulating material, and rests on the supporting members in the room to be covered, in order that the building be unsonorous. For the same purpose a similar strip 8' is attached to the under face of each keying strip I, as by gluing; the width of the strip 6 is so chosen, that, taking into account the height of the keying strip I proper, the total width of said keying strip with its attached under layer 6' be made equal to the total width of the associated panel.

An upper facing is fixed on the supporting frame t and comprises a plurality of matched and grooved flooring strips of commercial thickness united together in the fashion of the conventional flooring elements, as may be seen from the sectional View of Fig. 3. Said strips however generally have a lesser thickness than the conventional flooring strips. The upper facing l is made integral with the supporting frame 4 and with the insulating filling therein by gluing, and i this assembly is then machined for providing a male projection laterally extending from the four edges thereof.

According to a modification of my invention (not shown), the panel, instead of comprising a thin wooden facing made of a hard wood glued on a frame made of soft wood such as deal and provided with a cork under layer, is solid, and the cork under layer is glued directly there under.

In this embodiment, the play due to wood dilation is compensated for by dilation joints alternately cut in theupper and. under surfaces of the panel and extending in the direction of the fibres of the Wood, said joints having a depth substantially equal to half the thickness of the panel, and being filled with wax or another suitable plastic material. I

Fig. 4 shows the general form of a prefabricated wooden flooring united according to my invention.

Referring now to this figure, the keying strips 4 are united together by their end lugs engaging a longitudinal groove 2 in another perpendicularly arranged keying strip at the middle my invention in a room the walls of which do not intersect at right angles. It is seen from this figure that in such a case the room may be encircled along its walls by an encircling wooden frame I0. Moreover, in order that the obliquity of the room walls be compensated for, an auxiliary strip il may be inserted at a convenient place between the face of the related wall or partition and the frame It). In Fig. 5, as in Fig. l, the order of laying of the various flooring elements has been indicated by reference letters, the alphabetic order of which corresponds with said laying order.

While I have described and illustrated my invention in connection with specific embodiments thereof, it is to be clearly understood that these embodiments have been given merely by way of illustration and are not intended to limit the scope of my invention as set forth in the appended claim.

What I claim is:

A flooring unit comprising a panel having four equal sides, the edges of said sides being provided with interfitting runners the length of the runners being equal to twice the length of each of said sides of said panel plus their own width, said runners being provided with longitudinal grooves along the sides of said runners and comprising a tongue at their longitudinal ends for mutual engagement of said runners, said panel further comprising a frame and an upper facing attached to said frame and formed of a number of flooring strips parallel to one side of said frame, said upper facing and said frame having along all the sides thereof an outwardly projecting common tongue, said common tongue engaging said longitudinal grooves formed in said sides of said runners, whereby said upper facing and said frame are maintained pressed towards each other and said upper facing, and said frame and said runners being maintained in mutual engagement.

FERNAND LEON TAPHOUREAU.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 478,847 Charteris July 12, 1892 1,864,774 Storm June 28, 1932 1,380,153 Rosenzweig Sept. 27, 1932 2,225,612 Allen Dec. 24, 1940 2,257,048 Fulbright Sept. 23, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 10,164 Great Britain of 1 884 23,575 Great Britain of 1894 230,712 .Great Britain 'of 1925 

